This coffee is another prime example for the amazing flavour and aroma depth Rwandan coffees bring to the table! It has a pleasantly full body, the freshness of sweet, ripe pears combined with the richness of bittersweet chocolate and leaves a lovely and syrupy sweetness with a hint of herbaceous spiciness on your palate which reminded us of a dark forest honey. It’s quickly becoming a roaster favourite with us here at Kontext Coffee Co.!
 
Background Info:
 
Rwandan coffee farmers produce some of the best coffees in Africa. The Bourbon variety is very wide-spread in Rwanda. It has nothing to do with the drink but is named after the place it was first created – the island of La Reunion, formerly known as Ile de Bourbon. This variety is particularly well suited to grow on volcanic slopes with temperate climate and has a good productivity level. Bourbon coffees are very popular for their balanced flavour profile of sweetness, acidity and a nice, often creamy body.
 
This particular coffee is produced by the mostly female farmers of the Twongerekawa Coko cooperative society in Northern Rwanda. Coko washing station processes coffee from the surrounding area at altitudes of up to 2300 masl. These unusually high altitudes translate into a slower ripening of the coffee cherries which creates extra complexity in flavour, sweetness and acidity. We buy this coffee through our friends and trusted partners from This Side Up Coffee in Amsterdam and they have worked with Twongerekawa Coko since 2014, steadily improving quality, processes and output. With the support and reliability given by This Side Up they were able to invest in infrastructure and equipment, livestock for manure aka organic fertilizer and created their own honey process as well. Their coffee is grown without artificial inputs and in 2019 they started their own fruit and shade tree nursery to slowly introduce agroforestry practices. They have also invested in water-saving processing equipment and are working with the water they are able to collect naturally from the surrounding mountains.
 
We have gone for a fully washed and double fermented coffee this year. All coffee is hand-picked, depulped, dry fermented for 12 hours, then wet fermented (18 hours), washed with mountain water, shade dried, then sun dried on raised beds until it reaches ideal moisture levels for export. The result in the cup speaks for itself – simply delicious!